Press Release
September 22, 2013
Brent Meske’s breakout novel Super Nobody was recently chosen as required reading for middle school students in the state of Arizona. The novel, the first in a series of Young Adult urban fantasy superhero books, explores themes of the everyday hero.
Frank McCormick of Sunnyside Unified School District originally discovered Super Nobody through the independent publishing website Smashwords.com. 1300 6th graders in five schools will be tasked with reading the book on e-readers. He explained that ‘one of the biggest challenges with writing for common core’s skills-based curriculum is finding titles that have enough universal appeal’ and that the notion of a superhero novel fit particularly well.
Along with a team of English teachers, McCormick spent the summer crafting a series of lesson plans to teach students to better understand literary devices, consider themselves as potential everyday heroes, and reflect on how the protagonist might be like themselves.
Described as ‘a highly readable book’ and a ‘fast-paced, well-written story’ in reviews, the novel is free to download in multiple e-book formats on Smashwords.com, and in print from Amazon.com. It follows the life of Michael Washington, a middle school student in the small town of Lincolnshire, a town which, in the near future, contains more superheroes than any other place on the planet. Michael is on hand to witness several ‘Activations.’ or young people coming into their super powers in dangerous and often violent ways. Without a power of his own, Michael is forced to handle these situations with wits and willpower.
Meske will answer student questions related to the book and writing in October via Skype. In addition, using Photoshop, the author will ‘Activate’ students who write exemplary essays, and put these super students’ images on alternate book covers.
Brent Meske is not a superhero in the traditional sense, but is a father of one, a husband to a Korean national, writer, teacher and artist. He recently accepted a job teaching English at Inha University in Korea, and hails from Metro Detroit in Michigan. He has a masters in English (TESOL) from the University of Southern California, and is a graduate of Berkley High School. He has recently been asked to review e-books for Awesome Indies (awesomeindies.net), an organization whose aim is to judge independent authors against mainstream publishing standards. In addition, Brent does freelance e-book cover design.
Please send all press requests to:
Brent Meske
+82 10 4580 0718 (international, South Korea)
To learn more about Brent Meske, please see:
Smashwords author page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/brentmeske
Facebook writer page: https://www.facebook.com/bmeske
Cover designer blog: https://meskebrent.wordpress.com
Brent Meske 